The invention is based on an electronic control device and a method for a fuel metering system of an internal combustion engine with self-ignition, as described hereinafter. An electronic Diesel regulator having precontrol of air and fuel quantities is known from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 28 03 750.5. The starting control means of this system processes a starting and rpm signal and also processes the signal of a temperature sensor. Although this known electronic Diesel regulator generally does produce satisfactory results, still problems may arise when starting a warm engine. For instance, if the vehicle has been driven until the tank is emtpy, so that the injection lines are partially empty, then if the engine is restarted while still warm, just after the tank has been filled, only a small temperature-dependent starting quantity is released; yet under some circumstances this may not suffice to assure reliable starting, and such specialized instances, therefore, cannot be reliably controlled.